2013-15 Council committees roster set

Coming up with rosters for the City Council’s several committees isn’t dissimilar from a football coach planning out how he’ll divide his players onto various teams so that he’s got a shot at a winning season.

It’s a process Mayor Julian Castro went through this summer, and on Thursday, he released the rosters for the 2013-15 City Council subcommittees, which comprise the following:

Governance

Audit

Economic and Community Development

Infrastructure and Growth

Intergovernmental Relations

Public Safety

Quality of Life

Educational Excellence Committee

High Profile Contracts Accountability

City Investment Committee

There were rumors that Castro’s staunchest opponents on council — Elisa Chan and Carlton Soules — weren’t going to get any chairmanships, but that didn’t pan out in the final rosters.

Chan will chair Quality of Life and Soules takes the reins of Public Safety, which ousted Councilman David Medina had led.

This council term marks the creation of a new subcommittee — on High Profile Contracts Accountability, which will be led by Councilman Diego Bernal, a close ally of Castro’s. The creation of that subcommittee is likely due, at least in part, to the extensive Express-News coverage last year of the largest construction contract in city history. It was marred by an ethics inquiry the led to a finding that a city executive had violated the city’s ethics code.

The other members who will work with Bernal on that committee are: Ivy Taylor, Rebecca Viagran, Ray Lopez and Rey Saldana.

Saldana, the youngest councilman, now in his second term, will serve as chairman of two committees — Infrastructure and Growth and Educational Excellence. He’s the only councilman to head two committees.

Castro remains chairman of Governance — the most powerful committee of the group. The mayoral seat has always chaired that committee, so there’s no surprise that Castro will remain in that role. It’s also the only subcommittee that he’s on.

Click on the following link to see Castro’s memo to the council and his committee assignments: Council Committees 2013